When does Game Of Thrones season 7 start?

Game Of Thrones has traditionally aired new episodes from April, but season seven has been pushed back to the summer.

Showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have started filming for the new season later than usual to take advantage of the gloomier weather.

They explained: “We're starting a bit later because at the end of this season, 'Winter is here' – and that means that sunny weather [that we usually film in] doesn't really serve our purposes any more.

“So we kind of pushed everything down the line, so we could get some grim grey weather even in the sunnier places that we shoot."

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Game Of Thrones will return later this year

Game of Thrones season 7 predictions
Wed, October 26, 2016

Using clues and hints scraped together from George R.R. Martin’s original A Song of Ice and Fire novels and the TV show, along with a healthy dose of speculation, here are our predictions for season seven.

Daenerys and Jon Snow unite – The revelation that Jon's father was Rhaegar Targaryen could also potentially unite the siblings in the battle between ice and fire

How many episodes will there be?

It has been confirmed that the new run will be formed of seven episodes, down from the usual 10.

But although there will be less screen time, the epic nature of season seven means that producers are spending the same amount of time filming as they usually would for a 10-hour season.

Iain Glen, who plays Ser Jorah Mormont, told Radio Times: “I think the scale and size of the set pieces, the world that is being created, it's just getting more and more extraordinary and they feel they need that time to shoot seven hours as opposed to 10.”

Who will return? Game Of Thrones season 7 cast

Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) have all signed up for a seventh and eighth series and will take home a reported $1.1 million (£900,000) per episode.